Please Stop Development of Newington's Cedar Mountain

I could be making a mountain out a mole hill here but...

I was recently informed that Toll Brothers wants to construct condominiums on Cedar Mountain in Newington. A 28 acre parcel of the mountain would be developed. There was a hearing in town tonight because the area needs to be rezoned before the developer can apply to develop the land.

When will suburban sprawl stop in Connecticut? Will it ever? Newington is one of the poster child's of Greater Hartford towns that sold their souls to developers. Newington joins other notables like Windsor and Rocky Hill. The Berlin Turnpike's span through Newington is filled with big box stores, an array of strip malls and almost any chain store you can think of. Newington was even home to that famous Krispy Kreme we all remember, then it closed only to be replaced by a Citibank, that also closed.

This is not to say that Newington is a town with no center at all. Downtown Newington does exist, though the thousands that pass through daily on the Berlin Turnpike probably do not know this. The town's center is located in the vicinity of Cedar Street, Main Street and Market Square and though it is hurting in some regards it is still home to a great variety of businesses and is located within walking distance of a few residential streets. Anyone who has ever been to the Newington Extravaganza fireworks display over Mill Woods Pond knows the strong sense of community that still exists. Here, it seems as if everyone knows each other even though there are close to 30,000 people in town.

Downtown Newington and this sense of community are both in jeopardy though as Newington (and countless other towns) continue to practice poor development practices. Developments claim to be "pedestrian friendly", "mixed use" and using components of "smart growth" but in Connecticut there is usually a catch. For example, The Shoppes at Evergreen Walk is a mixed use life style center but there are no apartments or office space within walking distance, everyone arrives by car and there are still huge swaths of unused surface parking lots.

I do not know what was discussed at the meeting or how town residents feel about the proposal but I would hate to see Cedar Mountain, a still untouched piece of land, torn up to make way for a cookie cutter type development that will most likely be similar to the condos Toll House built on the site of the former Hartford Drive In.